Cowboy Recipes

Cooking for cowboys is serious business. They aren’t looking for the wheel to be reinvented; they just want food that’s plentiful, piping hot, and delicious. Here’s where you’ll find all the cowboy-friendly recipes on The Pioneer Woman. From biscuits with sausage gravy to pan-fried pork chops, these recipes are the way to any cowboy’s heart!

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I have a problem with steak salads: I love them, which isn’t actually a problem at all, unless you call a complete inability to stop eating something until not a trace remains a problem. Which I do, and which I have. But I already said that. Could you repeat that, Ree? Sorry. Talking [...] Keep Reading

Today’s recipe is more about the slaw than the pork. I used my Dr Pepper Shredded Pork for this sandwich, which I posted here in March. If you haven’t made it yet, please do so. Thank you. Note: the above pork recipe holds the distinction of being one of the most [...] Keep Reading

Sunday afternoon, I made sliders. I wrapped bacon around each diminutive patty of hamburger, then cooked them in the oven and squeezed them between small, warm rolls. And I wasn’t the least bit sorry. Keep Reading

This is my second this-has-absolutely-nothing-to-do-with-Easter-or-Passover recipe of the week. Welcome to my world! I made barbecue chicken a few days ago, and instead of grabbing one of the four million delicious bottled options in my pantry (can someone explain to me why I have four [...] Keep Reading

It came to me in a vision, this bizarre decision to cook a pork butt in Dr Pepper. Then again, so did my decision to get a Basset Hound. First of all: pork butt. It isn’t a pork butt at all, but a pork shoulder. Second, it’s just a wonderful cut of meat. It cooks up moist and [...] Keep Reading

Oh dear. These are good. These are very, very good. Flank steak marinated in chipotle, lime, garlic, and cilantro is used not for fajitas, as one might expect flank steak marinated in chipotle, lime, garlic, and cilantro to be used for…but for fajita nachos, a nice, unexpected twist. [...] Keep Reading

Before I begin, let me state for the record that Marlboro Man would not touch this adulterated version of his beloved favorite sandwich with a ten foot pole. He asked me to state that unequivocally, for it is his ardent contention that his beloved favorite sandwich—which appears not [...] Keep Reading

(Updated notes/recipe below.) This is a scrumptious, simple beef stew recipe that’s perfect for warming your soul after a long week of feeding cattle and horses in the snow. Or, at least, watching your husband leave the house so he can feed cattle and horses in the snow. It’s [...] Keep Reading

This is yummy. This is simple. This was dinner last night. The kids loved it. Marlboro Man loved it. Amen. Everyone loves stuffed pasta shells—even people who don’t think they like stuffed pasta shells. It’s just that they don’t know they love them yet. But they [...] Keep Reading

This is a recipe from my cookbook, and I’m sharing it here because I love it. I’m tired of meatloaf getting a bad rap. Tired of it, I tell you! Within the pages of my cookbook, I proposed that people’s perception of meatloaf became permanently skewed when a certain [...] Keep Reading

You’re just going to have to trust me on this one. I’ve been living in the country, among picky kids and cowboys, for almost fourteen years. During that fourteen years, I have accumulated valuable knowledge about what people in my world will, and will not, eat. They will not, [...] Keep Reading

Raise your hand if you have a Sonic in your life. *Raising Hand* For those of you who didn’t raise your hand, excuse me while I observe a moment of silence for you. For you are missing out on one of life’s great…greatnesses. Sonic is an Oklahoma-based drive-in (not [...] Keep Reading

I had approximately one million blueberries in my refrigerator yesterday. They were left over from the Fourth of July and after making blueberry pancakes and blueberry muffins over the weekend, I’d barely made a dent in the stash. I considered making blueberry jam, but I wasn’t [...] Keep Reading

Okay, fine. Taken from start to finish, this took a little longer than sixteen minutes. But it did take sixteen minutes to get it to the point where it simmers in the skillet…so it sorta kinda maybe possibly counts. What can I say? I like consistency! I couldn’t bear the [...] Keep Reading

This is the second in my week-long run of 16-minute meals since I’m stuck here on the ranch with only Marlboro Man and my two boys. I found this quick-and-easy recipe on Tasty Kitchen, so I decided to post the step-by-step over there. It was so simple, I was able to feed my family [...] Keep Reading

First, an important clarification: The Pioneer Woman Cooks is not meant to be an encyclopedia of innovative gourmet recipes. It is a reflection of what is going on in my kitchen day in and day out, whether that’s necessarily thrilling or not. *The above disclaimer has never been more [...] Keep Reading

Oooooh. You’re getting ready to get a taste of Me, Opinionated. Be sure to take a photo! You won’t see it very often. Lucky for you, I won’t be revealing my expert views on the environment, the stimulus, the new health care legislation, or whether Standard Poodles ever [...] Keep Reading

I used to be terrified of sloppy joes. It’s true. When I was a little girl, I got it in my head that sloppy joes were demons, and that if I ate them I’d become possessed and die. Okay, listen. I know that sounds crazy. But thanks to my best friend Becky, who was a strong [...] Keep Reading

Funnel Cakes, for those of you who aren’t familiar, are a standard carnival treat. Made by pouring a thin batter through—get ready—a FUNNEL (get it?) directly into hot oil and fried until golden, then topped with plenty of powdered sugar and eaten while crisp and [...] Keep Reading

I love—I mean love—making spaghetti and meatballs. Oh, don’t get me wrong—I love eating it, too. But if I had to choose forever between cooking it and eating it…well, wait a minute. I don’t know which I’d choose. Never eating spaghetti and [...] Keep Reading

Let me begin this post by saying how excited I am to share this doughnut recipe with you. What can I say? Doughnuts are exciting. They thrill me to the bone. Second, let me lay one thing out on the table: Making good, raised doughnuts at home is not as easy as you’d think. For years [...] Keep Reading

Okay. Here’s the situation: I am completely high maintenance when it comes to salsa. Now, I’m not talking about Pico de Gallo. I’m high maintenance there, too…but that’s not what I’m making today. What I’m making today is salsa. The kind they serve [...] Keep Reading

This is a comfort food from my childhood on the golf course, and something I highly recommend if you’ve never come across it in your life. It’s beautiful, simple homemade Chicken and Noodles—a thick, hearty dish not to be confused with a thinner, brothier chicken noodle [...] Keep Reading

This is one of the go-to dishes I make for my family of six. Rich, flavorful, and totally satisfying, we all love it, including my big, strapping cowboy of a husband. And that’s a very, very good thing. Break out the good Parmesan for this one, my friends. It’s the right thing [...] Keep Reading

Okay, people. Let’s get down to business here. Let’s get down to basics, let’s get down to brass tacks, let’s get down to the nitty gritty… Let’s fry up some pork chops. Okay, if rocket science were people, these pork chops would be…Antarctica. [...] Keep Reading

If you missed Part I of this series, you can catch up here: Canning 101 and Strawberry Jam Part 1 We made the strawberry jam. It’s sitting in the pot, ready to go into the hot jars. We’ve got 8-ounce mason jars simmering on the stove. We simmer the jars [...] Keep Reading

Canning is not rocket science. But it is a science. There are principles of canning, and they need to be carefully followed to ensure quality preservation of the food and safety for those who’ll eat it. (Note: the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving is a great book for anyone [...] Keep Reading

Whoa, Nelly. I never knew baked beans could be this good. I never knew baked beans could be improved upon; I never knew baked beans could be such a triumph, such a prayer, such a song. But they can. I now know they can. Pam Anderson—and sometimes like to call her [...] Keep Reading

I love throwing together these delicious potato packets. They’re ridiculously easy, fun for the kids to assemble…and are absolutely delicious. Something happens to the chunks of potato when they’re sealed inside the foil packages—yum! They come out of the oven (or [...] Keep Reading

I let my shrimp marinate a couple of hours, because I was swept away by a twelve year old on a piece of heavy machinery and a cow under my bed. Not really on the cow, but wouldn’t that make a great story? To skewer the little suckers, first stick the sharp end into what [...] Keep Reading

There are millions (or thousands…maybe even HUNDREDS!) of different incarnations of Firecracker Shrimp. My sister-in-law Missy makes a delicious version with Cajun seasoning and red pepper flakes. It hurts my tongue, which I secretly love. I make Firecracker Shrimp using hot [...] Keep Reading

Question: What happens when Pioneer Woman and Marlboro Man’s four kids leave the house for the weekend to stay at their grandfather’s house and Pioneer Woman passes Marlboro Man a note in church asking, “I’ll cook you anything you want for lunch…what’ll [...] Keep Reading

IMPORTANT: Be sure to use a cake pan that’s at least 2 inches deep! Before baking, the batter should not fill the pan more than halfway. I was bored (read: hungry, ravenous, craving sugar) yesterday and I had a bunch of strawberries in my fridge. I also had a laundry room filled with [...] Keep Reading

I have SUCH a love-hate relationship with pancakes on so many levels. 1. I LOVE the way good pancakes taste. 2. I HATE what good pancakes do to my bottom. I eat them, it grows. 3. I LOVE the experience of making pancakes from scratch, hearing them sizzle as I pour them onto a hot griddle, [...] Keep Reading

Marlboro Man loves this pasta because, well, it’s mostly meat. I started making it for him years ago because he’s not crazy about meat sauce that has a heavily marinara/tomato-ey base. This does have some yummy tomatoes in the mix, but the meat is front and center, and is [...] Keep Reading

If you don’t love the bubbly wonderfulness of piping hot garlic cheese bread, write this date on your calendar. Because that’s all about to change. Here’s what you need: Butter. One stick. Softened. Mayonnaise. Real mayonnaise. NOT the demonic Miracle Whip or any [...] Keep Reading

“Ranch Chicken”—ha! What a recipe name. The truth is, this dish doesn’t even have an official name. I just make it. Then I serve it to hungry men so I can hear them moan and groan. Then I eat it myself. But for some strange reason, when I put a recipe up for you [...] Keep Reading

Today I’ll show you how to make my gourmet Steak Bites, which are actually about as UN-gourmet as it gets. But they’re fun to make, easy, and go a long way toward promoting peace and tranquility among the male species. They just love these simple suckers. I did NOT just call [...] Keep Reading